Culling a field of 64 goals for the AT&T Goal of the Year contest is a fun, time-consuming, but at times saddening process. Why?
Because 64 goals is not nearly as much as you think (especially considering 845 goals were scored in total), and difficult cuts have to be made. Here are three goals more than worthy of recognition that did not make the cut:
Marcelo Sarvas (LA Galaxy) vs. San Jose, June 29
This is the LA Galaxy in full flight – exploiting the space afforded them on the counter by a stretched San Jose defense, some nifty combination, and to top it all off, a fantastic flying finish from Sarvas. Sadly, for the Galaxy, the rest of the game did not go as smoothly.
Gershon Koffie (Vancouver Whitecaps) vs. Portland, May 18
Camilo had his fair share Goal of the Year nominees this year, but how about this assist? He posts up on Futty Danso, who has eight inches and 30 pounds on the little Brazilian and finds Koffie through traffic. And of course, the whole reason this is on the list is a stunning finish from the young midfielder.
Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution) vs. Columbus, Oct. 27
Considering the Goal of the Year vote started before Goal of the Week voting for Week 35 was even finished, it was difficult to include all of the great goals that were scored on the final weekend, namely this piece of brilliance from Juan Agudelo.
Sure, we've seen the give-and-go employed to deadly effect across the league, but that backheel give-and-go? Agudelo is one of a few players in MLS (if there are any others at all) who can make that happen, take a great return ball from Lee Nguyen and coolly finish it off. And let's not forget, this is the goal that put New England in the playoffs.
Of course, this is only a sampling of some of the great goals we've seen this year. Got another suggestion? Make it heard in the comments! And don't forget to vote for the 2013 AT&T Goal of the Year when the second round of voting kicks off at noon ET on Friday!
